contrary, the action of the air which is inspired upon the venous blood has been by some regarded as a process of combustion, and the source, through combustion, of the special temperature which characterises all organised and living bodies. Respiration is said, by Grant[1], to be essential to the constitution of animal bodies; for by this function "the vital fluids are purified and replenished, the muscular system is furnished with its capability of action, and the high temperature of the mammalia is preserved in every condition of the surrounding element."
Note 8, p. 106. As proof of which we are unable, &c.] The meaning of this passage, owing in part to the unsettled knowledge of that age, is by no means evident; but it can be readily admitted, that the act of holding the breath must set in motion, disturb, that is, the air which has been inspired, and produce coughing rather than articulation. The French commentator makes the text (κινεῖ καὶ τοῦτο) to imply "disturbance of the function;" Trendelenburg, however, sanctions the version here given. It will be apparent, from what has been adduced, that the word pharynx (of fishes) should have been larynx, for this, being the upper part of the trachea, is the tube which conveys air to the lungs, as the other, being the upper part of the œsophagus, is the tube which conveys food to the stomach; and all fishes have a pharynx, of course, but, as they do not breathe, they are without a larynx.
- ↑ Outlines, p. 592.
